Bedok Town Square a hit with residents

When Mr Lim Keng Yong was in primary school more than six decades ago, his hobby was to kick around a piece of rubber with feathers nailed to it. Yesterday, Mr Lim, now 74, relived his chapteh-playing days at Bedok Town Square, a sheltered space that links Bedok Mall to the hawker centre next door. "When I was young I could kick the chapteh 200 times. Today, not even 15. But the chapteh is not the same," Mr Lim lamented, pointing at the mass-produced feathered shuttlecock at the game stall. "We used to make our own using rubber from old tyres and feathers from the chicken stall at the market." Mr Lim's trip to yesteryear took place at the Balik Kampong Festival, part of a series of events organised for the needy and vulnerable by young people under the People's Association (PA). In a first for a town plaza, the Housing Board had formed a team, which includes grassroots wor...